Thursday, 4 November 2004

Now that all the too-close-to-calls have ended, there are new topics for the commentators to get their teeth into, such as: What has been learnt? and What now? Here are brief extracts from, and links to, three of the best pieces which have already appeared:Divide and rule ... for now“It's a bitter pill to swallow, but one that should hopefully lead to a brighter future. Bush owns his messes, and now he'll be forced to clean them up. He won't be able to hide behind 9/11 seven years into his term.So how did Bush even get this far? By demonising an entire group of people -- gays and lesbians. By cynical appeals to religion. By slandering a true war hero. And, most importantly, by scaring people. You see, terrorists would detonate a nuclear bomb in a major city if Kerry were elected. Only Bush can protect us.”Divided nation“….four out of five voters who cited moral values as their key issue voted for President Bush - as did the same proportion of those who cited terrorism.In contrast, those most concerned about the economy voted four to one for Senator Kerry, as did three in four of those who cited Iraq as their main concern.”Demonic nonsense“A crucial legacy of the past year is the experience of political engagement that vast numbers of Americans have gained for the first time. Among my friends in the States, who by their own admission were stupendously inactive under Bush senior and Clinton, I now notice a stiffening of the sinews and a sense that politics can be affected by mass involvement. Something has dropped into place - principally, an understanding that if you don't pay attention, a man like Bush can get away with murder.”

Some of the comments in these articles made me feel fractionally less pessimistic about the future, and the thought that 48% of the voters of the most powerful nation on earth are in substantial agreement with 95% of the rest of the world's inhabitants can't be bad and cheered me up a little.